Duty Calls
by dragonsking
Summary: Draco and Hermione have been made Head boy and girl at Hogwarts for their final year, but if they believe that having to work together will be their biggest problem, then they should think again! This is the first story in a series of 10.
1. Chapter 1

31st August. 

- Draco's Story -

I can't believe the summer has gone by so quickly, it seems like only yesterday that we were at the leaving feast and Dumbledore, the old fool, was telling us all to have a safe and pleasant holiday.

Tomorrow is the beginning of the end, so to speak, the first day of my final year at Hogwarts, and I have a feeling it's going to be one hell of a ride! I'm still trying to come to grips with the fact that I was chosen to be head boy. To be honest, although I haven't said this to anyone else, I didn't think I had a chance. I was sure Dumbledore, given his fondness for Gryffindors in general, and for Potter and Weasley in particular, would have chosen one of them. The last Slytherin to be head boy was Tom Riddle over 50 years ago and since then, it's been almost exclusively Gryffindors, with the occasional Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff thrown in just so that Dumbledore couldn't (at least openly) be accused of favouritism.

I don't know who was more shocked when I got the letter, me or my parents. My father even went as far as to suggest that a mistake might have been made - it's so nice to see that he has such confidence in my abilities. Naturally, we all thought that after all of our family's dealings with the Dark Lord, my father being a known Death Eater and my own open support of Professor Umbridge during my fifth year, I wouldn't even be on the short list, but it seems that the position is mine, and I'm going to milk it for all it's worth, I mean. what's the point of having power if you don't use it?

The only dark cloud on my personal horizon is that I have to spend the year working with that filthy Mudblood, Granger...Dumbledore's made her head girl, much to my disgust! Father was going to complain to the school governors but I hardly think they'd listen to him, after all, he hasn't exactly been 'popular' in the wizarding world since the final defeat of the Dark Lord last year and his subsequent denouncing of everything and everyone connected to Dumbledore.

There is ONE good thing about Granger being head girl though. The fact that she loves organising things and bossing people around means that I won't have to do any work. A definite plus! Crabbe and Goyle seem more thrilled with my new position than I am. I suppose they think that they'll benefit from it because they're my friends but I've got news for them, this gig is MINE and they won't be riding around on MY coat tails.

I'll bet Granger will be devastated that neither her precious Potty nor Weasel have been chosen to be head. I would have loved to have seen the look on her face when she heard that she had to share the job with me! Poor Weasley will feel like more of a loser than ever now, I mean, he's gone from being a mild nothing to an absolute nobody overnight...He wasn't even there to help Potter and the others fight the Dark Lord's army last year because he got hurt during the first five minutes, before Voldemort himself had even arrived!

Potter has PROBABLY got more of a reason to be unhappy about not getting the job, after all, he's the self-styled Gryffindor 'hero', especially after killing Voldemort and saving all those pathetic muggles at Godric's Hollow in the process. Then again, maybe Potty wants to be Minister of Magic, after all, such an important person would NEVER be happy just being head boy (ha ha! ).

I'm certainly looking forward to tomorrow...

August 31st.

- Hermione's Story -

Merlin, I'm exhausted! I don't seem to have had time to even take a breath since I got back from The Burrow on Tuesday. Mummy and I spent all day today at Diagon Alley getting everything I'll need for school this year, including two beautiful new sets of dress robes which were a gift from my grandmother. It took quite a while for her to get used to having a witch for a granddaughter but now that she's come to terms with it, she insisted on paying for the dress robes because she says that a head girl has to look her best on formal occasions. I chose one black set with silver and gold sequins and red ones with gold and emerald buttons. They are both so lovely, I can't wait for a chance to wear them.

I'm still completely overwhelmed at having the honour to be chosen as head girl. I had secretly hoped that I MIGHT be considered but I never dared to believe that Professor Dumbledore would actually give me the position! I really thought that Parvati might be the one, or Catherine Dixon from Ravenclaw, she's an incredibly talented witch - some of the spells she cast when we were defending the castle against the Death Eaters last year were WAY out of my league, just amazing! Plus, she's a really nice person and is an excellent prefect too, but it's me, and I'm just sooooooo happy!

Everything would have been perfect if only that damned Draco Malfoy was not made head boy!!!! Personally, I don't understand why Professor Dumbledore would DO such a thing, I mean Malfoy, son of a Death Eater, known to hate everything and everyone that isn't connected with Slytherin and the most arrogant, unpleasant person in the whole school (along with Pansy Parkinson, who's almost as bad!). I f only Harry or Ron had been chosen instead, my happiness would be complete. They both have exceptional leadership qualities and have certainly proven themselves to be more than capable of handling things under pressure, especially Harry. As for Ron, he might not have fought at quite the same level as Harry but he's equally as brave and he's done a great job as prefect, all the younger students love him, especially the girls! (I know how they feel grin).

The boys are both so proud of me, Ron couldn't wipe the grin off his face for two days after I got the letter while I was at The Burrow and Harry kept hugging me and saying how pleased he was. Mrs. Weasley cried and said I was like a daugher to her and Mr. Weasley gave me a million warnings about being careful working with the son of Lucius Malfoy. "If he's anything like his father, Hermione, and there's no doubt that he is, you'll have to watch yourself very carefully because he'll try his best to make your life as unpleasant as possible." I know he's right, of course, and I WILL be very careful, nobody with the name 'Malfoy' could EVER be trusted to do the honourable thing.

This year will be so exciting, I intend to work hard and make Professor Dumbledore, my family and all the Gryffindors proud of me. Of course, with N.E.W.T.S. and everything there won't be a lot of spare time but if I organise myself properly and make sure that Malfoy does his share of the work, it should be okay.

DISCLAIMER: The 'Harry Potter' characters and everything in the Potterverse is the property of JK Rowling, Warner Bros., Bloomsbury Books and other associated companies. No infringement of copyright is intended. The plot of the story and any new characters are not my own:)


	2. Chapter 2

September 1st.

- Draco's Story -

I was right, this year is going to be brilliant! From the moment I arrived at Platform 9 and 3/4, everything was perfect. First of all, the first years are under the impression that I'm some kind of god, they were all staring up at me in awe and calling me 'Mister Malfoy'; even Father had to smile at that! He'd never admit it, but I think he's actually proud of my achievement. I mean for all his strutting, he never managed to be made head boy, he wasn't even a prefect, although he did play Beater on the Slytherin quidditch team and he's got a cabinet full of trophies for it, so he must have been pretty good.

Being quidditch captain again this year will be excellent, even better if we can win the Quidditch Cup - that'd certainly wipe the smile off Weasley's dumb mug! Speaking of Weasley, I had to give the youngest one a fortnight's worth of detention today for hexing Goyle on the train. (Being head boy certainly does have its perks and being able to hand out detentions to anyone whenever I like is one of them┘) You'd think a sixth year would know better than to perform dangerous magic on another student. smirk. All Goyle did was run his hand up her skirt. It's not as if she wouldn't be used to it, for some strange reason, boys seem to pant after her all the time, God knows why, she's not even pretty. She's easy, I know that, Crabbe says she'll sleep with anybody, so that must be why. Granger gave Goyle some kind of boring cleaning job to do for HIS detention. He ranted at me about it and told me to 'fix it' so that he wouldn't have to do it but, quite frankly, I can't be bothered.

And while I'm on the subject of girls who are easy, Granger had the audacity to come up to me today and congratulate me on my (OUR┘.) new position, she even held out her hand! Surely she didn't actually think I'd shake it? I just glared at her and walked away, leaving her standing there looking stupid! I flatly refused to go into the head's private train compartment with her too. I'll have to spend enough time in her company this year as it is without doing it when it's not necessary.

I'm not sure what I expected the Head Boy's private suite of rooms to look like but I certainly didn't expect them to be as awesome as they are! The last five occupants have all been Gryffindors so I gritted my teeth before I went in, expecting it to be all 'homey' and 'cosy' and, well,... RED. What I FOUND was just amazing. The whole room had been transformed into a Slytherin student's idea of paradise - green and silver floor coverings, drapes, bed linen and wall hangings. There were even exquisite jade miniatures on the coffee table and mantelpiece and a brilliant clock, carved like a snake, that hisses the time every fifteen minutes. By far the coolest thing though was a tapestry on the wall with talking photos, listing all the famous Slytherins to go through Hogwarts in chronological order, starting with Salazar Slytherin himself - even my name was on it!

Malfoy, Draco L.

Prefect, Quidditch Captain, Head Boy.  
And then my picture - impressive!

The bathroom is enormous and also decked out in green and silver. Very soothing. The bath itself is large enough to hold swimming races in and the water that comes out of the taps (carved in the shape of serpent's heads) runs green (cold) and silver (hot). Crabbe and Goyle will go ballistic when I tell them about THAT little detail.

Just as I was wondering who had done all this for me, I found a note next to the hand basin.

Mr. Malfoy,

I hope your quarters are to your liking. I took the liberty of decorating them in preparation for your arrival but of course, if you wish to change anything, feel free to do so.

Severus Snape.

Change it? Is he kidding? It's perfect, nearly as good as my room at home. I'll have to thank him first thing in the morning. There was a note from Dumbledore too but I just crushed it and threw it in the fire, (green and silver flames, of course) the day has been too perfect to spoil it by reading any crap from him.

September 1st.

- Hermione's Story -

What a day, what a week! I need to crawl into bed and sleep for six months! Even the trip on the train was exhausting. What with having to give last minute instructions to the prefects and helping first years find their way into the correct compartments etc., we were half way to Hogsmeade before I had a chance to breath!

Draco Malfoy is an evil, arrogant toad! Not only did he refuse to shake my hand when I tried to congratulate him, but he gave Ginny detention after she hexed Goyle for fondling her leg! She was so upset after Goyle mauled her, she couldn't stop crying, especially after Malfoy marched down the corridor and started throwing his weight around. I dare not tell Ron what happened because if I do, Goyle will be dead. Ron is quite rightly very protective of Ginny, she may have seen a lot of unpleasant things in her 16 1/2 years but she's still pretty unwordly when it comes to boys, especially oafs like Goyle. The worst part is that while I have the authority to hand out detentions myself ,(Goyle now has to clean the Slytherin common room alone, without magic and without house-elf assistance, for two weeks.) so does Malfoy and I know he'll abuse the privilege. I would have liked to have expelled Goyle on the spot but that's one power I DON'T have, unfortunately.

I can't lift the absurd detention that Malfoy gave Ginny either - restocking the potion ingredients cupboard in Snape's dungeon and scrubbing all the dirty cauldrons after classes finish each day - but at least by giving Goyle a similar punishment, I can make sure that Ginny isn't the only one to suffer. I just hope that the Slytherins are as big a bunch of messy slobs as my own housemates!

All in all, I was very much looking forward to the sanctuary of the head girl's rooms. What a wonderful place! Everything was pure Gryffindor, from the life-sized lion statues to the beautiful red and gold decore and the magnificent hand-sewn, Muggle -made quilt (also in Gryffindor colours) which was a surprise gift from the Weasleys after I had received my good news. Mr. & Mrs. Weasley and Ginny went shopping in Muggle London (much to Mr. Weasley's delight, I'm sure!) and bought it for me - it's absolutely divine and SO warm!

There was a lovely note of welcome from Professor Dumbledore on the table when I arrived and a congratulatory scroll signed by every Gryffindor (and former Gryffindor) in the school, from the headmaster himself down to the second years. I was so overwhelmed at the gesture, I cried... There was a bunch of roses from Ron too with a card that just said 'I love you'.

What more could a girl want?


End file.
